Well, it took me about ten seconds to know this was a scam. My parents were vacationing in Florida and it wasn’t like them to go traipsing off to Wales without telling anyone. Also the wording is a bit strange – I really doubt my mother, who’s in her late 70s, would ever say “England sucks.” And the wording is very awkward.
I called them to warn them (Yes, they were in Florida). Then I replied to the e-mail, asking where I should send the money.
I got a reply with an address.
I e-mailed back saying I couldn’t get that much money together. Would $1000 be enough?
I got a reply that that would be a big help.
Meanwhile, my father logged on to their account and discovered his address book had been deleted. I got in touch with AOL and got information on how to contact their security department. My father got online with them and told him that, two people were logged in – my father and someone else. My father logged off and they locked out the other person.
I was still getting replies from them an hour after I got the first message. My next step would have been to tell them, “I sent the money,” but neglect to give them the information they’d need to pick it up.
My parents have been getting calls and e-mails asking about what happened to them in Wales. Luckily, I don’t think anyone sent any money.
I mean, really, wouldn’t everybody be able to tell the writing style of their own mother? Or any close relative? Never mind the unlikelihood of the backstory, (I’m in Wales or England and I didn’t let anyone know!) the phrasing even sounds like someone who’s not familiar with the English language.
Next to this, the exiled billionaire Nigerian prince scam is sheer genius!
No, another one I got a couple of weeks ago was dumber:
I also was able to contact the scammers to get the address of their hotel. Here it is on Google Street View. Luxurious, isn’t it? Oh, and there is no Mayfield hotel in London.
It’s actually quite easy to scam them: just say, “sure, I’ll send you the money.” Then drag it out for awhile.
The silly thing is that they send these things to everyone in the address book. Now, it certainly would be possible that I send money to my mother if she was in trouble. But when I get an e-mail from someone who I only know socially or from a business connection, my first thought would be “Why is he asking me? I barely know him.”
A really smart scammer would change your password to keep you out of the e-mail while they use it. The one today knew enough to delete the address book (making it hard to warn people); the first one didn’t even do that.
have one email in my real name, that I use for business. I have email in the name of Aruvqan. A while ago i emailed myself telling me that I had been robbed and needed money.
[When I checked, the headers were spoofed, it was someone virused that had both of me in their email. From what I heard they sent emails from everybody to everybody claiming muggins.]
I work at a private golf club on Long Island and last week the two membership secretaries (one of whom is 85, the other in her 60s) received a similar email from a club member. Our members are rich people who do travel the world so it was entirely plausible. They called the member and were told that his computer got a virus and to ignore the email but I have to say, it really upset these sweet old ladies who thought someone had been mugged at gunpoint.
I guess the old fashioned 419 scams don’t work so well anymore.
Of course it is: the English just let the Welsh pretend that it’s a separate country. Just ask yourself: is the Prince of Wales an Englishman or a Welshman?
I got that identical email a month ago from a young man who died 18 months ago from stomach cancer; it was jarring all around. I bet a lot of his friends and family had that same jarring feeling as I did.
We received a very similar e-mail to the OP’s from a “friend” who said she had been ripped off in London. Same basic story but also not to let her husband know, as she was so ashamed to have screwed up this way. That was several years ago, and it went to quite a few people at that time, so this has been around for a while.
Oh, and there is no Mayfield hotel in London.